My boy Amp paces his tank. He swims up and down the same wall, from top to bottom, swimming up, and then down really fast crashing into the gravel. For hours on end. He is in a planted tank, has hiding places, etc. Why is he doing this? Could it be a sign of illness? I am treating my other boy for external parasites because he was darting and glancing off everything. Not quite the same as how Amp is acting, but now I'm paranoid. The only thing shared between my tanks is the gravel vacuum

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gal divided, but he just moved yesterday, previously it was a 3 gal
What temperature is your tank? 80
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? not yet

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? omega one
How often do you feed your betta fish? 6 or so pellets scattered throughout the day
Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? just set this up yesterday, but in my unfiltered 3 gallon it was 3x per week

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? It was 2@ 50% and 1@ 100%

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

So my water parameters are not normal, I just tested, Is this because of the filter? Because I just did this setup yesterday the water is all brand new.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? None
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Pacing the walls, crashing into the gravel
When did you start noticing the symptoms? He has always done it a little but now its obsessive
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I have not
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? Bought him a couple months ago

I think when the ammonia is changed to ammonium by the prime, it still registers as ammonia. You can buy a test kit that will measure both if you're worried about it.
I'm still just learning all of this though, so hopefully you'll get a second opinion. :)

Does it look like he's crashing into the gravel on purpose, as if to scratch himself? If so, this could be a parasite issue.

Or does it look like he's crashing into the gravel because he can't control his buoyancy? This would indicate a possible swim bladder issue.

What external parasite are you treating your other fish for?

Can you do a baseline ammonia test on your tap water? (Straight out of the faucet.) This will tell you if there's ammonia in your water, versus whether it's an issue with your tank.

Prime temporarily neutralizes ammonia (a toxin) into ammonium (nontoxic). The effects last for about 48 hours.... However, water test kits don't differentiate between ammonia and ammonium. So even though Prime has done it's job, your test kit will still test positive for ammonia (even though it's now become ammonium).

As for the pacing, two of my guys do it all of the time. Back and forth, back and forth, all day long.

Does it look like he's crashing into the gravel on purpose, as if to scratch himself? If so, this could be a parasite issue.

Or does it look like he's crashing into the gravel because he can't control his buoyancy? This would indicate a possible swim bladder issue.

What external parasite are you treating your other fish for?

Can you do a baseline ammonia test on your tap water? (Straight out of the faucet.) This will tell you if there's ammonia in your water, versus whether it's an issue with your tank.

Prime temporarily neutralizes ammonia (a toxin) into ammonium (nontoxic). The effects last for about 48 hours.... However, water test kits don't differentiate between ammonia and ammonium. So even though Prime has done it's job, your test kit will still test positive for ammonia (even though it's now become ammonium).

As for the pacing, two of my guys do it all of the time. Back and forth, back and forth, all day long.

It definitely doesn't look like swim bladder problems to me. It does indeed look intentional. I am already treating for parasites though. (Because I just had one die and his only symptoms were indicating parasites, now Im paranoid because I used the same gravel vacuum in both tanks)

I solved the ammonia issue, I think, I did lots of testing and water changing and finally got it to 0.

He blew a bubble nest last night, I know this doesn't necessarily mean they are happy, but I'm hoping it means he is healthy

Well the quick cure didn't solve this issue, but I treated with Tetra parasite guard and he has since stopped the crashing into the gravel :) I'm fairly sure he had some sort of parasites. He also has a new tank mate on the other side of the divider, so pacing the tank has become pacing the divider :P

If Amp were a person, I think he would have some severe OCD. I think having a neighbor is good for him. He needs a distraction. They ignore each other a lot, and then Amp gets bored and antagonizes, and then they chill out and hang around the divider.